We need to create a website that compiles and vets liberty candidates

I believe that RPF members need to brainstorm ideas for a website which features all liberty orientated candidates running at all levels.

There is a huge question mark over the future of the R3VOLUTION once Ron Paul retires. Unfortunately, that could be soon if he we don't win the GOP nomination. Even if Ron Paul does become president, the liberty movement will still have a long way to go. We need as many Ron Paul Republicans, Cleeveland Democrats and Libertarian Party candidates elected into ALL levels of government - both federal and state. To achieve this goal, we need to get organised.

At the moment, we lack a comprehensive list of candidates. Therefore, we need create a website to compile all these candidates into a one place. They would need to be vetted and sorted according to viability (so people can support candidates that have more chance of winning more heavily if they wish), 'purity' (for want of a better word) and the level of government/location of where there seat is. Anything else I've missed?

where people can find their local liberty candidate and join their campaign, contribute money towards liberty candidates, promote liberty candidates on social networks, YouTube and all over the internet. The website could also encourage other liberty activists to run themselves and feature information on how to go about this.

However, there are many problems that we will have to overcome. These can be broken down into: financial, technical and philosophical.

First off, the philosophical obstables.

Libertarianism is broad church. Ranging from minarchists to paleo-conservatives to anarcho-capitalists (like me :P). Then there is the whole abortion issue that is very divisive amongst libertarians. You get the Friedman vs Rothbard arguments. Cato Institute vs Mises Institute disagreements. Therefore, what is an acceptable policy for some minarcho-libertarians may not be acceptable to voluntarist types. This is not a thread to instigate a debate within the liberty movement. This is a thread aiming to create a resource where libertarians of all types can work together to try to reduce the size and scope of government, no matter how far one's eventual goal is. By the way, when I use the term libertarian I am encompassing classical liberals, traditional conservatives, minarchists, agorists, anarcho-capitalists, paleo-conservatives, Ron Paul Republicans, blue democrats, panarchists and voluntaryists. Whatever label you choose to define yourself with, as long as you believe in at least minimal government, you are included.

Therefore, what may be an acceptable for one libertarian, may not be acceptable to another. The vetting process will have to reflect this. One way to do this could be to have a chart with a checklist of all the issues:

Supports an audit of the fed
Supports the abolition of the fed
Supports legalising marijuana
Supports legalising all drugs
Supports the gold standard
Supports non-interventionism

etc. Please help add to and refine this list.

Or perhaps we there could be a team of well-read volunteers who dedicate themselves to vetting these candidates, akin to the way the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance go over bills from a libertarian perspective. For me, it seems appropriate to judge candidates against Ron Paul, seeing as he is the invididual who has so successfully inspiree and united the liberty movement. So volunteers who have read all of Ron Paul's literature, could investigate candidates and judge them against Ron Paul.

Or perhaps the website could be interactive and users could vote up or provide feedback in someway with the more active and established a user becomes, the more weight to his/her vote?

In any event, all these ideas have their issues.

The financial obstacle is speaks for itself. Money will need to be raised to pay for server costs, domain registration and other stuff. I don't have a clue how much this would cost, so perhaps somone with more expertise wouldn't mind costing this out? The technological side also could be tricky. The site would have to be slick and have a proffessional organised layout. It may also need some tricky tools if the site is going to be interactive - with the grassroots submitting new candidates and putting forward feedback on the candidates already listed.

As a result, someone (or some people) with the necessary skills would have to come forward and valiantly give their time and trouble to the cause. Without sounding like I'm disgregarding this sacrifice, I'm sure that this is manageable given the things the R3VOLUTION grassroots have produced. Whether it's RPF, RonPaulCountry, RonPaulFlix, the sites and tools created for moneybombs, we rock in this field. I have faith that if we got to the stage where we have a workable and detailed plan for this project, then some people would come forward and offer their toil and talents to put the plan into place.

I can't see how there could be any arguments against setting up a resource like this, but I'm sure there'll be a large range of ideas in how to go about this. This thread is intended to open up some brainstorming. Please contribute to the discussion, all input is needed and welcome.

Comments

Ron Paul's convictions will reverberate long after the election. We do have Libertrian presidential front-runner Gary Johnson to take up the torch for Ron Paul. Gary Johnson's views closely echo the talking points you used in your article. He is a true Libertarian and considering he supports Israel he may be the same flavor of Libertarian as you.